NASSCOM EMERGE Community Catalyst for Growth of Emerging & Start-Up companies

Abhishek,

1) there are some good outsource sales companies in UK. They are expensive and managing them is a real challenge specially if you are in software development. For standard products it is a little easier.

2) I do know of some companies in UK .

3) You will need to find your passionate team member in UK who is willing to do this , or get a sales person from India and move him to UK. It takes at least an year for things to close.

4) It is direct reporting to the Sales Head

5) A sales person in UK could cost anything from 30,000 upwards plus OTE ( On Target Earnings). You can use Jobserve.co.uk for recruitment.

6) Being in or around London is useful for an Indian company, however you can look at Scotland or Wales also since they have good local markets. Cambridge is a tough location unless you are in the Science Park and want to do something with the University IP.

7) The challenges are quite complex in UK today and it is quite expensive to run a sales team locally. If you have a niche product and can invest them you can plan for about 12 months and you will surely get going after that.

Regards

Hari

Hi Hari,

Though we work almost across the street, but we hardly get to see each other. And we are communicating on this board. I think this is the power of online social networking!

Can you give me reference of the "outsourced sales agency" that you are talking about.

About the sales guy, is it advisable to hire an Indian working in UK or a a person from British origin working in the UK? Different people say different things! I am confused. I am also working out my recruitment strategy. When you started off in UK, did you put in a guy from India to work along with the sales guy in UK or he was on his own? I am a little bit worried about tracking his work. Also, most resumes I am getting are in 42K mark. It seems, I need to redefine my job description!

Your input about the location is insightful. It will surely help me decide :)

I am also finding that UK is possibly a tough destination to have a physical presence. But I prefer to do the toughest one first so that all other seems easy ;)

Regards
Abhishek

Hi Abhishek:

•Try to locate your point of contact office around South of Uk, London is quite expensive .
•Local sales guys are most of the time High pitch guys, but less on o performance.
•Recruit Guys of Asian origin and ask them to drive the sales
•You can put forward a thin line of marketing professional who are local so that penetration is equal, after that the Asian can drive the show.
•The sales cycle in Uk are bit long, so you need to aggressive guys who can drive the sales .
•Most of the sales guys have a habit of cold calling from home, recruit guys who are ready to go F2F with clients .

Regards
Srideep

Let me give my views

1. Office inside London city is ruled out as too expensive...even big cos locate their office or sales people outside where housing is cheaper...most of the contacts are anyway by e-mail /phone and meetings come only at later stages..do not sink money

2. People all travel by car, if not train to reach London city, park the car at nearby rail stn and travel into the city by local train and buses.

3. Asian/Indian or local gora depends on what are you selling - niche service or product and to what kind of organization.....who should be met - IT dept or CFO or CEO.....subject matter expert is what is more critical .....gone are the days of selling by cutting rates....sell only by compelling edge--enough messages are seen in this community space on differentiator etc

4. Sales cycle in UK are 2-4 time longer and can test patience....be careful in expenses.....as they run out fast.......if not wisely spent ....

5. Sales people in overseas must always report to No 1 of the parent co, whose offerings are being promoted.....no one less than CEO or No 1 please.....best is follow up by con call and excel sheet based pipeline tracking systems......Get the daily update everyday on pre-designed template and get that reviewed everyday /week basis depending on what is the selling subject...Never skip this as front end person requires a regular dose of mentoring/fine tuning sale issues and threats.....He can not succeed without parent co support and docs/materials as sought and agreed

6. What compensation to be paid to sale person -- be careful--issues is not comparative bid, but what deliverables can the sales candidate offer to your game plan...30 or 42 k could be misleading your goals.....you must spend at least 2-3 rounds of in person meeting to spot the right talent. Issue is not of finding a sales person....

Challenge is of finding an idea and dream partner who is synch with you on the offerings as on date, possibility tomorrow and outcome after about 12 months or so......It should not be trivialised or simplified.......that guy will be your ears and eyes and deserves your full support when you have short listed him ......and he would be your pointsman.( 007 agent) ....do not treat his as your sales person with some money every month ...but as your passionate partner in same boat as you are.....

If you do not spot one like said above, do sales initially yourself and then put a passionate friendly person as your local representative....Many Indian cos do mistakes of hiring and then firing on some or other reasons....which is a great loss as opportunity skips and you may lose confidence....

Be careful, work on passions of the candidate after due diligence and you get a winning partner.....

Trust it gives some strategies.....take care while interviewing as you need long term strtagic idea partner in UK streets....

Hope this helps

Hi Srideep / Rajendra,

Thank you for your insightful tips. It will cenrtainly help me in planning my market entry. I will keep you all updated how it goes and share my knowledge. In fact I will blog about my experience as I go through this phase.

Please keep the ideas rolling in :)

Regards
Abhishek

Hi Abhishek,

Just got another response...which I'm sharing with others:

1) What do you have to think about the In-house vs. Outsource in context of UK market? Most people told me that I should have UK nationals looking after sales in UK to match the culture.

I have seen the Indian software firms, selling their services in the UK, to go the in-house route predominantly. It's almost mandatory to have a face to your selling campaign. Your salesperson could of course outsource the initial calling by recruiting a telesales agency to do the cold calling, to evince the primary level of interest, so as to enable your sales guy to concentrate on more potential cases. A well informed and a performing UK national will be the ideal candidate. But I have also seen companies initially bringing in an Indian salesperson and have few UK nationals reporting to him.

2) Do you know of a company in UK which is reliable for outsourcing Sales?

There are quite a few companies in this domain. Some names that come to my mind include SCI Sales, ISF, Transactionfocus, etc.

3) How do companies which have "just started" in UK manage their sales team?

This depends a lot on the emphasis laid by the company on a new geography. I have come across companies, who look to have a local salesperson initially on a retainership basis / freelancing sales consultant and then take it forward based on how business evolves. I have also seen companies with an aggressive mindset with a team of sales professionals trying to develop business starting from day one.

4) How do you take reporting when the operations is very small and you are physically not present. I am assuming that like most emerging company, the management team numbers (number of senior management professionals) are less?

As advised on the blog by one of the participants, direct reporting to the CEO / BD Director, on a regular basis, would be the way to go. Regular visits to the market by the senior management is also advisable in the UK for client interactions.

5) What kind of salary structure do you need to pay there in UK for the sales guy? Any recommended website to do the recruitment?

30k to 40K with sales bonuses works well for sales professionals with reasonable (5 to 10 yrs) experience. The numbers swell with the increase in experience. Indian recruitment firms like ABC Consultants and Mafoi are active in this market and would be able to assist with your recruitment requirements.

6) Which location in UK is ideal? I am looking at Cambridge. Suggestions please.

Scotland, Ireland and Wales are good options as well. But if you are looking at business in England, presence close to London is advisable. Places like Croydon (where Infosys began its journey in the UK), Hammersmith, and locations in east London could be good options. Since the salesperson would be on the road most of the time, it is suggested that the location costs should not be a burden.

7) If you have done it before, what kind of challenges you have faced and how you have overcome it? Please share your experience.

I have not been in the Software business so far, hence do not have any personal experience except for my interactions with the prospective Indian IT firms, looking to start up their business in this market. Getting the right sales guy, getting that first success, immigration of software professionals from India to client sites can be challenging situations that you may encounter.

8) What are the dos and don't? Any known pitfall?

Do's:
• To have the right advisors for your accounting and legal requirements, so that you need not be bothered with the related issues and concentrate on the business development activities.
• To have contacts with the trade bodies like UKTI and the other regional development agencies
• Ensure presence at the relevant networking events.
• Client / Prospect entertainment is an accepted norm.

Hope you find the above information useful. I look forward to meeting you on your visit to the UK.

With warm regards

Chandru Iyer
For and on behalf of Kingston Smith LLP

Abhishek,

Here are my two bits on this.

Contrary to popular belief, setting up a small sales office in London is not that expensive - of course if you were to look at Bond Street it would be bloody expensive but if you look at West London ( Wimbeldon / Modern ) the rentals are a lot more reasonable and so is housing and most importantly; its on the London Underground and hence moving around is not a big deal.

We have a sales and PM office in Fulham and hence my first hand experinece has been that it is advisable to setup an office in London , not central but London. For a office space with common facilities ( reception, meeting rooms , loos etc. ) you are looking at a rental of GBP 700 - 800 a month for decent sales and marketing office. I don't know your product or service but I think an office in London is important depending on what your target market is.

On sales people - you should look at having someone who is local i.e. understands the local market but his ethnicity has absolutely no impact as long as he can speak and present well. If the work is eventually to be done in India, you will be doing yourself a favor by hiring someone of Asian origin as he would represent your company and hence set an expectation with your customers of what to expect while dealing with you. Outsourcing may work but again would depend on your product or service. It would cost you to the tune fo GBP 350 - 400 a day. You may have to do a combination of both.

All the best.

Himanshu

Hi Guys,

Thank you for your insights. I got some more inputs, which I will like to share. I am not posting his name, since he wrote to me personally.

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Hi Abhishek

You must hire a UK national (White guy) as their is a lot of racisim in UK, however you should also place an Indian person from your office whom you trust to monitor the developments.

Closing cycle depends on business to business. London will be the right place to start your office. There are many companies in UK which are into outsourcing sales, infact I worked with one of them (but now closed)

Salary again depends on nature of work. a Telecom/ IT sales person will take 30 - 40k

Though I am not an expert in this

Hi abhishek,

I second the thought of an office in London(not central), but again depends on where and what kind of products you have to sell, travelling in my view is a lot expensive if by train, actually if you go through sites like Regus you will be able to have a look at the charges of a well furnished room/ office.

I used to be in London quite recently and can share my experiences in detail if asked,

Also i can assist in letting you know some person who might be inerested in being a sales exec.

Thanks

abhishek

+91 - 9971376767

Abhishek,

It will be great if you can share some of your ideas in a new e-guide we are trying to put together at Nasscom Emerge with help of fellow Nasscom members. This e-guide is supposed to be very practical about entering into a new market like UK, US, etc.

I feel in London, if someone takes up a shared office desk (much cheaper than a serviced office), it can be better.

Regards

Abhishek

hi All,

I'm sharing a deck on UK IT Market Opportunities - Most popular IT initiatives and marketing themes to capitalise on them...Presentation made by Bill Crowley, SVP of International, TechTarget.

Hope you find this useful.

Thanks,

Avinash

Hi,

Can any guy here can suggest me a lead generating company in UK, or if someone here wants to share their existing team, pl reply offline,

thanks

abhishek

9971376767